Bouncy Castle Hire in West Midlands

Bouncing Ben Inflatable Hire offers reliable and friendly bouncy castle hire in Birmingham and Solihull. They supply children's and adult's inflatables, available in many different themes. Here they also supply some really great advice for choosing a similar provider to make sure your event goes without a problem.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

The more information the better! But in order to provide an accurate quote with suitable products we need to know, as a minimum, where the event is taking place, how many people attending and whether it's to be used for adults or children. From this, we can provide a range of suitable options (including photos), different sizes and prices in the quote. The next stage we can discuss directly the access requirements, surfaces etc.
I always imagine booking a bouncy castle like a game of "guess who" ... the customer has an idea of the perfect inflatable, and each question eliminates any that aren't suitable, leaving their perfect inflatable to hire.

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

It's quite tricky hiring a bouncy castle if you don't have a company recommended to you. It is very easy to buy a cheap inflatable, put a phone number up and take bookings - we see it all the time and have many calls each weekend where the company hasn't turned up.
So after 15 years of hiring our tips are...
1. If you don't know anyone who can recommend a company - check genuine reviews on "Add to Event", Facebook, Google... I can't stress this enough.
2. Once you have identified the hire company - ask them if they carry insurance and safety certificates (in date). Commercial castles must have an annual RPII inspection carried out at least. PIPA is a bonus but not a requirement.
3. Looking good so far? Check the price - does it seem very cheap? If so walk away.. they probably won't turn up or will try to hire you a toy. A typical price for a 12ft x 12ft castle will range between £50 and £70 for a day hire.
4. Check for any additional costs. Some companies charge for delivery (we charge a small fee depending on the distance), however, you may get a company charge extra for a pickup after 6pm...
5. Give them a call! Many customers have said they can tell a lot by how someone speaks to them on the phone.
There are some great hire companies who will make your party perfect!

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

Bouncing Ben Inflatable Hire was set up 15 years ago after taking my nephew (Ben) to a number of parties where the inflatables were dirty, damaged and I know I could do a lot better. So I sold my car, bought 3 of the best castles I could from KLC castles in Derbyshire, bought an old estate car and started from there.
I still work for a charity and this business is my passion. It's just me, my father in law and soon to be my 8-year-old son Sam. We always go the extra mile for our customers and being a small family business bring that personal touch to all our castle hires, that a large company can't. We have many repeat customers and over 40 five star Facebook reviews. We are so proud of this!

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

We took the plunge a few weeks ago and the requests have started to come through. I would say out of 5 or so quotes we have sent we have had 2 bookings - which is great!
The first booking was yesterday after I provided a quote on Thursday last week. The customer responded within an hour of me quoting and after a few messages, it was all booked. They had our Paw Patrol castle and loved it!
The service through "Add to Event" has been 1st rate, the system is very easy to use and it's a very cost-effective solution to get bookings. Plus it has the added bonus you only need to quote on requests that are in your area and you can deliver the product they require :-)